Türkiye delivers first indigenous Altay tanks to armed forces, President Erdogan announces
Türkiye has delivered the first indigenous Altay tanks to its armed forces, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the BMC Ankara Tank and New Generation Armored Vehicles Production Facility.
The Altay is Türkiye’s new main battle tank, and its mass production is carried out at the Ankara plant of Turkish automaker BMC.
Erdogan said the tanks completed a 35,000-kilometer (nearly 21,750-mile) testing program and 3,700 live-fire exercises before being handed over to the military.
The president added that the Altay tank, upgraded with advanced systems, is designed to withstand the toughest battlefield conditions.
He also highlighted Türkiye’s mass production line, which spans 63,000 square meters, saying it will produce eight Altay tanks and 10 Altug armored vehicles—described as “fortresses of the battlefield”—each month.
“We continue to write a legend with our state-of-the-art air, land, and sea vehicles,” Erdogan said. “We are no longer just a state that follows; we are a state that is followed.”
Foreign defense dependence falls below 20%
Erdogan said Türkiye aims to keep Altay tank production independent, particularly for critical materials, and vowed to continue progressing despite past embargoes.
He said Türkiye’s foreign dependence in defense is now below 20%, with security forces meeting nearly all their needs through domestic vehicles and equipment.
He highlighted that the country has more than 1,400 defense projects, ranks among the top three global producers of unmanned aerial vehicles, and supplied 65% of the world’s UAVs to 180 countries in 2024.
“We plan to deliver the Leopard 2A4 modernization project next year alongside the Altay,” the Turkish president added.
The ceremony was also attended by Qatari Defense Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who is on an official visit to Ankara.
Erdogan thanked BMC, the Presidency of Defense Industries, all workers involved in the facility’s construction, and Qatar for their partnership.
Sheikh Saoud praised the Türkiye-Qatar defense partnership, saying: "Today we witness a strong collaboration between Türkiye and Qatar. We are proud that this partnership has put the Altay tank, produced domestically by BMC in Türkiye, into service."
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